Maritime logistics center joins forces with new partners

Every day at Georgia Ports Authority docks, more than 5,000 containers arrive and depart - loaded onto ships, trucks and trains and bound for destinations across the country and around the world.

Keeping track of all these containers can be a logistical and security nightmare.

That's why the Maritime Logistics Innovation Center, one of the state's centers of innovation, was created three years ago: To research new technologies and implement best practices for the efficient and secure movement of cargo through Georgia's ports.

One innovation starting to take hold around the globe is the use of Radio Frequency Identification - or RFID - tags to identify and track cargo containers as they move through the supply chain.

To that end, MLIC has announced two new partnerships designed to advance research in RFID technology.

The center's partnerships with Georgia Electronic Design Center and Savi Networks creates a three-pronged approach to improving RFID use in a real-world setting, said Page Siplon, MLIC executive director.

"Each group brings a unique perspective to the table," he said. "This collaboration will help in the development of new RFID technologies that will benefit all aspects of the supply chain."

RFID technology has tremendous potential, Siplon said, but it presents something of a "chicken and egg" puzzle.

"We need to have RFID tags on containers, but without the infrastructure and technology in place at terminals to read the tags, it's hard to convince shipping companies they need to invest in the tags. And, with shippers hesitant to put a lot into tags, terminals aren't rushing to install the infrastructure."

Savi Networks hopes to resolve the problem, he said, by providing tag-reading infrastructure to shipping terminals free of charge.

The ball started rolling here with Savi Networks' partnership with MLIC to provide SaviTrak, the company's information service, to terminal facilities at Georgia Ports. The service collects real-time data from Savi's global infrastructure at ports and other supply chain checkpoints, automatically reading and transmitting data on RFID containers to an open technology software platform.

The platform is not proprietary, meaning it can read RFID tags manufactured by any company.

This working test bed, expected to roll out in September with RFID readers on cranes and gates at GPA's Garden City Terminal, offers the perfect opportunity for Georgia Electronic Design Center, which is working to refine the next generation of RFID tags.

Headquartered at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and funded by the state and such high-profile research partners as Motorola and Pirelli, the GEDC is conducting chip-level RFID research, working to produce high-efficiency, low-cost, multifunctional RFID antennas and integrated circuits as well as tags that adhere to a variety of surfaces.

"By using each other's knowledge, we can look at the actual use of RFID in a real-world situation," Siplon said. "This is where the rubber meets the road."

Joy Lasker, director of the GEDC and the Joseph M. Pettit Professor of Electronics in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech, agreed.

"What this partnership means for GEDC is that we're now better able to provide demonstrable solutions for the logistics industry," he said.

It also means that Georgia Ports joins a growing network of shipping terminals both internationally and in the United States with SaviTrak agreements, Siplon said.

In addition, Georgia Ports, through MLIC, will have access to the latest in Savi and GEDC research.

It's just the kind of win-win opportunity Georgia wants to showcase, said Craig Lesser, Georgia Department of Economic Development commissioner.

"When you combine smart people with the right resources, the end result has incredible potential in the critical logistics sector that's so important to Georgia's economy," he said.

About MLIC

Based at Georgia Tech's Savannah campus and working closely with Georgia Ports Authority, the Maritime Logistics Innovation Center was created in 2003.

It is part of the Georgia Centers of Innovation program. MLIC is a partnership of private industry, academia and federal and state authorities working to develop, apply and promote new technologies, identify unique applications for existing technology and create best practices for safe, efficient and secure supply chains.

About Savi Networks

Majority-owned by Lockheed Martin Co., Savi Networks LLC operates a global information network that uses automatic identification and data collection equipment and software to provide shippers with information about the identity, location and status of their ocean cargo containers and contents. Savi Networks provides the SaviTrak information service that allows shippers, logistics service providers and transportation companies to manage and monitor their shipments over a secure Internet connection.